Composting

Home composting is a good way of reducing biodegradable waste (waste that rots).

You can put vegetable peelings, fruit, tea bags, grass and leaves into a home compost bin. Most of this waste normally goes into your rubbish bin and gets sent to landfill for disposal.

By making home compost you can reduce this as well as generating a product that can be used as a soil conditioner in your own garden.

You can compost:

fruit and vegetable peelings
tea bags and coffee grounds
crushed egg shells
grass cuttings, prunings, old bedding plants and hedge trimmings
scrunched or shredded paper and soft cardboard
animal hair
garden and pond plants.

You can’t compost:

cat or dog excrement
meat and fish
dairy products
diseased plants
disposable nappies
shiny card
hard objects.

For advice about home composting, visit the RecycleNow website or telephone the home compost helpline on 0845 600 0323.

Buy a Home Compost Bin
Cumbria County Council has teamed up with Even Greener to offer residents home composting bins and water butts at bargain prices - from just £7.50 for a compost bin.

Visit GetComposting.com (external link) for more information.